The Name on the Marquee: WWF Prime Time Wrestling (4.6.1987)

-Fallout show time at long last, after three or four years of waiting for Wrestlemania III to happen.

-Originally aired April 6, 1987.

-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & a very glum and extremely hoarse Bobby Heenan. Bobby has several bottles of unopened champagne that he just gives to Gorilla….who, by the way, mentions that Bobby hasn’t paid his $37,000 bill for that enormous new title belt that he commissioned.

-Chunger attacks from “behind” (with Mulligan clearly trying to cue him to do so) but Mulligan fires back with a clothesline and suspiciously gloved fists. Mulligan tosses him to the floor. Blackjack clubbers and sends Lee out to the floor again. Lee goes back in, another uppercut sends him to the floor again. Back in Lee connects with an enziguiri and some little brother-style rapid fire slapping to the back, but Mulligan hits him in the jaw with a big elbow and pins him easily. Squash and nothing more.

-Gorilla mentions that there are discussions underway about King Kong Bundy’s punishment for Wrestlemania III. Bobby is angry with Bundy, because three midgets left the Silverdome under their own power.

WRESTLEMANIA III REPORT
-Mean Gene Okerlund runs down the results of the show. He says “I can hardly wait for Wrestlemania IV!” Be careful what you wish for.

-Bobby Heenan cuts an awesome promo back in the studio about how a young, underqualified referee got starstruck by Hulk Hogan and screwed up the entire main event. Wrestlemania was a disaster as far as he’s concerned.

THE KEN PATERA STORY, PART 1
-Continuing the worst week of Heenan’s life, we recap the amazing amateur career of Ken Patera and revisit some feats of strength he performed on “TNT” a few years ago. Little did anyone realize what kind of horrific influence Bobby Heenan would have on his life. To be continued…

-Crazy moment, as Gorilla says he can’t wait to see what happens at Wrestlemania IV next year, and Bobby, still despondent, gripes that as bad as Wrestlemania III was, Wrestlemania IV is probably going to culminate in him being attacked by a hungry dog…which is EXACTLY how Wrestlemania IV played out for him.

KOKO B. WARE vs HONKY TONK MAN (with Jimmy Hart)
-This is interesting as both guys are right in the pivot of their pushes, which Koko being downgraded after a hot start and Honky on his way up the ladder after being a total joke since his debut.

-Honky works the arm, Koko reverses. Atomic drop and a slam follow, and Koko commits the ultimate sin of messing up the hair, so Honky goes out to the floor to smooth everything down. Koko meets him back inside with a shoulderblock and a slam, and Honky is just beside himself with rage about the hair thing.

-I love Gorilla and The Brain but this thing where they’d break away for a commercial and return with a chit-chat before returning to the match is so irritating. We finally go back to the ring with Honky in control. He wastes a lot of time by celebrating after every move, but still manages to connect with a fist from the second rope for two. Honky sends Koko out to the floor for a stern lecture by Jimmy Hart.

-“Greaseball” chant from the crowd while Honky works the neck over. Koko tries a sunset flip, but Gorilla is shocked to realize that he’s too short to do a sunset flip correctly and Honky kicks out. Honky goes back to the neck. Koko reverses a few attempted shots with the turnbuckle and starts to Koko up. Rights and lefts by Koko, and a dropkick sends Honky over the top and onto the floor. Koko suplexes Honky back in, but Jimmy Hart hooks Koko’s leg, Honky falls on top and gets the three-count. Pretty decent energy from both guys.

-Gorilla and Bobby talk about how much they enjoyed the presence of the celebrities at Wrestlemania III, and both of them agree that Bob Uecker and Mary Hart were just terrific folks and it was fun to work with them. And then it turns into a total shoot as Bobby says “How about that Aretha Franklin, though?” And Gorilla shakes his head and says, “Well…she left a LOT to be desired, but that’s a story for another day.” WHAT THE HELL?

-Gene Okerlund talks to Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik have left him lying in a pool of blood, but he’s still getting up and ready to fight, TOUGH GUY!

FUJI BANDITO
-And now, for no reason, another old favorite from “TNT,” Don Muraco and Mr. Fuji star in a western. Unlike most of the Fuji/Muraco skits, this one has an all-star cast, with Freddie Blassie as a bartender, the Fabulous Moolah as a saloon girl, and Jimmy Hart as a poker cheat. Still no topping “Fuji Vice,” though.

-Back in the studio, Gene Okerlund shows up in a trenchcoat and asks where the men’s room is. Bobby points out how creepy that seems.

-Gorilla apologizes for implying earlier in the show that Harley Race and Fabulous Moolah are the same age, when in fact Race is much older. Bobby insists that Harley is 31 years old!

OUTLAW RON BASS vs “The Italian Stallion” SALVATORE BELLOMO
-Bellomo now has a Rocky-style boxing robe, a beard, and a body stocking. Bruno basically writes him off as a total joke and says that the people of Italy think that Bellomo is a loser. So I guess technically this is heel vs. heel.

-Bellomo comes to life with a NICE mule kick and applies a side headlock. Bass sends him into the ropes and winds up on the receiving end of a bodypress for two. And the commentary gets weird at this point as Bellomo takes control and suddenly the commentators are treating him as a total babyface.

-Bass slams Bellomo outside the ring, and in the “stuff that’s only amusing to me” file, we get a shot of a cable puller at ringside who is a dead ringer for Bucky the engineer from WKRP. Back in, Bass finishes the same way that Mulligan finished his match, with a hard elbow to the jaw for three. Bellomo was a little more competitive, but a squash is a squash.

ISLANDERS vs DEMOLITION (with Mr. Fuji)
-From MSG. Demolition initially tries to wrestle the match with their entrance masks, but the Islanders protest and the referee threatens to DQ them before the match even starts.
-Ax gets caught in the wrong corner and chopped to oblivion, and the Islanders get to work quickly, tagging rapidly and working the arm over. Haku switches things up and goes to work on the leg, keeping Ax writhing on the mat.

-Back from commercial, Islanders are still working the leg. Dynamic of this match is really weird, as everybody has the face/heel roles totally reversed. And then Ax completely undoes that point by taking Tama outside and ramming him into the barricade so hard that he flips and lands in the seats. Back in the ring, sweet and simple spot as Tama just desperately tries to get the advantage back right away by blindly charging. Ax calmly gets out of the way, and Tama FLIES through the ropes and crashes on the floor.

-Smash and Haku end up brawling on the floor while Ax gets a two-count on Tama in the ring. Smash tags in and applies a bearhug. Tama escapes and we get the hot tag. Haku cleans house. Smash gets double-teamed with diving headbutts, and a top rope bodypress by Tama looks to finish until a brawl breaks out. Referee gets distracted and Demolition hits a decapitator in the middle of it to finish. By-the-book tag team match, but that’s not to say it’s a bad book or a bad match. I liked it.

-Bret and Raymond lock up, with Raymond getting so much leverage that Bret nearly falls over the top rope from just that. Bret demands a test of strength but it ends up with him trapped in an armbar. Jacques tags in behind his back and Bret gets suckered into a dropkick. Anvil tags in and immediately pulls down the straps, so you know he’s angry. Terrifying moment as Jacques almost accidentally drops him on his head on a powerslam, and both of them seem a little rattled by it as the action comes to a halt for a minute after it happens.

-Anvil press-slams Raymond on the top rope to take control. Back from commercial, Bret is attacking Raymond in the corner while Anvil provides the distraction. Bret slingshots Anvil on top of Raymond. Bret keeps trying to put Raymond away, Raymond keeps surviving and finally dropkicks Bret over the top rope and then dives for his brother to make the hot tag.

-Jacques attacks both opponents and clamps a sleeper on Bret, but Anvil breaks it and we have all four men in the ring. Harts get Irish whipped into each other and Anvil goes flying out of the ring, while Raymond pins Bret clean as a sheet. On its own, a good match. As part of this episode of “Prime Time,” a perfect example of why tag team matches should never be done back-to-back.